Rocketts Landing Goals

20072011

Wow. Chloe’s race report definitely was inspiring. She is absolutely incredible, and so is her dad. I don’t have a race report for you yet-but my “A” race is this coming weekend. It’s the Rocketts Landing Triathlon, which is also the Mid-Atlantic Team Championship, in Richmond, VA. Anyone else going??

I picked this as “A” race, because its a championship race, where hopefully, the DC Tri club will walk away the team champs. However, as I’ve been reading more and more blogs about triathlon training and training cycles, I realized that not having a training plan that builds to peak performance at a particular race makes it hard for me to really have an “A” race. Even so, I hope to go out there and race hard, and see what I can do.

What’s my goal time you ask? Well, I looked back on the Olympic tris I’ve done in the past, and here’s the breakdown:

To be honest, I guess I’m just hoping to have a good race, and be somewhere in the mid 2:30s. I know that anything can happen. Some things are within my control and other things are not. That being said, here’s what I hope to accomplish this weekend.

1. Don’t get lost.

I don’t want a Rock Hall repeat, so I’ve been studying this map for a few days:

Doesn’t look terribly confusing, right? I’ve read some race reports from last year’s race on the DC Tri Club forum, and from what folks are saying, this is an awesome course. I’ve heard that Richmond Multisports puts on a great race, and I’m hoping for lots of volunteers. I believe the race has about 600 athletes entered, and I’m in the 4th wave, so I think it is likely there will be other racers on the course around me so I won’t miss any turns.

2.Don’t die on the run. The run has always been the most challenging part of the tri for me. It HURTS! I’d really like to maintain 8:30 (or faster!)/ mile on the run. My splits in the past have been:

Philly 2008: 56:34

Philly 2010: 51:54

Make a Wish 2010: 54:41

Surprisingly, my Philly 2010 time was my best, and that’s after already running a 5K, since that race was a duathlon! I guess I’m good on tired legs? I’ve really tried to do some interval workouts over the past few months to help improve speed, so we’ll see if they paid off. The run on this course seems a little interesting; I think I’ll have some stairs to climb and one decent hill. I haven’t been training hills, so I’m expecting this to be tough:-(

3. Have fun&Meet DC Tri People. It’s the club championships, and I think there are over 100 DC Tri Club peeps going! I’m driving down with my friend Steph, who’s also on the club, and is on the elite squad for DC Tri (yes, she’s a rock star). We’re hittin’ up the club’s prerace dinner, and staying at the team hotel. Plenty of opportunities to meet some awesome athletes and potential future training buddies!

So my friends, check back next week for a full race recap, and I’ll let you know how many of these goals I meet/exceed!